Text -- Job 27:21-23 (NET)

27:21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. 27:22 It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power. 27:23 It claps its hands at him in derision and hisses him away from his place.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 27:22

¹ tn The verb is once again functioning in an adverbial sense. The text has “it hurls itself against him and shows no mercy.”

NET Notes: Job 27:23

¹ tn If the same subject is to be carried through here, it is the wind. That would make this a bold personification, perhaps suggesting the force of the wind. Others argue that it is unlikely that the wind claps its hands. They suggest taking the verb with an indefinite subject: “he claps” means “one claps. The idea is that of people rejoicing when the wicked are gone. But the parallelism is against this unless the second line is changed as well. R. Gordis (Job, 296) has “men will clap their hands…men will whistle upon him.”

² tn Or “hisses at him from its place” (ESV).